Wednesday, March 14, 2007

THREE HUNDRED




A Visual spectacle.
Each frame in the movie is so well thought out, it appears sensational. The colour of the movie enhances the larger than life feel of the story. The bare muscular bodies of the Spartans gleaming in the copper light , the (Lord of the Rings like) exaggerated beastly appearance of the rhino and the elephants salivating at the sight of its prey, (grossing the entire audience out), the deep resonating/ haunting voice of Xerxes ?(the Persian ruler - height:8feet),the blood dripping from Spartan's sword like hot chocolate from the spoon gave another dimension to the colour red, the swish of swords chopping off heads, the splash of blood, create a majestic scene of absolute magnificence, the gorgeous Spartan women, erotic and sensual, bring forth the idea of the perfect man and woman that the Greek's had.
Beautiful.
300, made on Frank Miller's graphic novel, might appear as an absolute literal representation of the graphics from the novel as if the visuals were directly picked up from the book (they actually are) and shown one after the other. The composition of each frame contains so many details that one would want to freeze the frame and want to analyze them/enjoy them. The shadow falling on the sand, the footprints on the shadow and on the sand Appear. The structures shown in the film, the light filtering through give the picture a dramatic effect, when the Spartan Queen speeks in the forum the brilliant light falling intensifies the scene. the light of the sky made the humans on Earth appear immortal, as if removing the difference in colour of the sky and the earth, as if both were one. The visual, when the cast list appeared at the end of the film, was simply superb. The mane of the horse turning into tree when zoomed in, a Spartan standing there, his robe showing something else, and it goes on....
Sensational.
Although made from a real incident, the larger than life imagery imagined by Frank Miller is extraordinary.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Three










































Sanjan.....A small coastal town on the border of Gujarat and Mumbai.....Historically it was the place where Parsis first landed in India.. The King of Valsad (city close to Sanjan) asked them how they would adjust/adapt and the reply was "jaise doodh mein shakkar mil jaataa hai waise......" don't remember the rest of it but you should have gotten the point by now...........We (my parents, few of our friends and I)went there on Saturday.... stayed at my dad's friend's house (I don't want to get into the architectural details....maybe the photos speak the required language)....There were one too many stray dogs there....and most of them looked as if they had never eaten before....There is a horse stable behind the house...it has a small ground afore it....Somehow the smell of horse shit didn't feel repugnant as it might have elsewhere....Someone said that it gave the place a rural feel!! I just got used to it....The beach was about 500m(as crow flies) away from the house, but hidden from direct view by a small jungle of trees, a seasonal river bed and some more trees....Sunset approaching rapidly, we went there in the Scorpio....the undulating ground made the ride feel no less than a camel ride....At the beach was a dead Dolphin! For the first time in my life I saw such a massive creature...and its prehistoric appearance made me want to look at it closely, touch the teeth, but for the stench and the dirt.....soon the dogs came and started their feast! We walked back to the house through the woods....Had some four dogs as escorts, who stopped immediately as their territory ended....and some two others joined us when we entered theirs....Next day did some target practise with the Walther CP gas pressured air pistol..simillar to the one that Mr.Bond uses (Walther PP)...I managed to hit the bullseye more than 5 times.....mighty proud of the achievement....Saw one house that is for sale....Reminded me of those bhoot banglaas from the old hindi films.....complete with one number photo of two cats along the staircase....It was a compact house. the drawing room had the upper level overlooking on it....a narrow staircase leading to the terrace and a room from the side....the openings on the wall above the drawing room allowed light to enter and gave the small place the spacious feel....ENOUGH of the architectural discourse........ but somehow it felt Parsi.....nice, sweet, gentle, kind....!!!!
I got to drive our car later in the afternoon.....albeit for a very short distance, it felt GREAT!!!!....
Well, not having seen the town as it is and being amidst parent and friends I never got the taste of Sanjan...except for the absolute relaxation and peace due to the absence of pollution and other banalities......(the word had to come somewhere;)!














Friday, March 9, 2007

TWO

Visuals, interpretations, thoughts, expressions, words, actions, visuals, interpretations, thoughts, expressions, words.......The effects of the affects.....and the affects of the effects........Are these just dualites or are these realities.....?

Monday, March 5, 2007

ONE

There is the blog and there is me. I begin.